


Feathers and Leaves

by Maranio



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maranio/pseuds/Maranio
Summary: He didn't bother considering the consequences before he followed the ghostly cat into the night. He would have followed her into Starclan if that's what she wanted. He would follow both of them till the end, he realised as he ran, Leaves still stuck in his fur.Feathertail decides that the rest of Starclan is wrong and that Leafpool shouldn't give up her kits, but raise them with the tom both of them love.
Relationships: Crowfeather/Leafpool (Warriors)
Kudos: 21





	Feathers and Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> I felt a urge to write some Crowpool, I love them alright?

She could smell her before she saw her. The faint smell of the mountains winds, the smell of a cold cave, mixed with the smell of the River in a Forest that no longer exists. Leafpool, for a few seconds, was confused. She couldn't be dreaming, after all she was on her way to the old twolegplace, leafbare was coming, and she needed to get catmint ready to prepare for the worst. 

In her confusion she stepped on a sharp stone, sharp enough to be painful, but not to start bleeding. Now she knows for sure she was awake. So why? She turned her head to the direction the smell came from, she only could see the silver fur for a second before the smell was gone and she was alone. 

Suddenly a strange feeling went through her body, she sat down before laying her paw on her stomach. Oh Feathertail, she thought, what would you have done?

____

Crowfeather was looking at Nightcloud from the other side of the camp as he returned from a hunting patrol. He tried to imagine being mates with her, real mates. For he knew what they were now wasn't that. 

He tried to compare his feelings for her to Feathertail, but no matter how hard he tried, it was hard to compare those feelings to anything. He tried to compare her to Leafpool, and no, there was also no way to compare anyone to the she-cat. Love, Crowfeather knew, was not a feeling that could be forced or compared to something. The love he felt for Feathertail and the love he felt for Leafpool, both of those feelings are…. were real. Yet so different.

What he felt for Nightcloud was nowhere near that and he knew it was the same for her. But she wanted kits, and no other Tom wanted her. They both lost their chance at a real mate, he realised. His heart sank at that, before he picked up the rabbit he caught again, walking towards her. 

The blood of the prey in his mouth was clouding his senses, but not enough, for just a second, he froze. It was so faint. A smell he knew so well, that made his heart ache in pain. He let the rabbit fall, turning his head. He could have sworn he saw her silver fur leave camp. 

Something in him screamed to follow her, but.. "Crowfeather?", he snapped out of his trance, turning around. Nightcloud was looking at him, a look of confusion on her face: "What is it?". There was worry in her face, yet her muscles were relaxed and her tail moved unbothered left and right. 

"Nothing" he brought her the rabbit which she ate thankful, she moved her muzzle into his fur, yet there was nothing gentle about the movement. It was quick, clumsy, like she wasn't sure what to do. Will it always be like this? Crowfeather started to wonder if Nightcloud would be better off without him, she only wanted kits, this was never about him. 

____

"Leafpool?", Brambleclaw's voice made her flinch, she was so concentrated on her herbs that she hadn't noticed someone came into the medicine den. "Yes?", she asked, recollecting herself. "Spiderleg is coughing, we don't want to suspect the worst but…", he didn't continue. She nodded silently: "I will be there in a moment". She didn't wait for a reply as he left. 

She left the den and looked around, she saw her sister returning from a patrol, walking towards the deputy. A wave of love came crashing down on her, her sisters feeling so strong as her own as always. She tried to ignore her own bitterness as she walked towards the warriors den. She needed to talk to Squirrelflight soon. 

At that thought a pain went through her heart, it was as if claws were tearing her apart from the inside. She could see Squirrelflight flinching at the other side of the camp, feeling her pain, but she couldn't look at her sister right now. 

She looked towards the nursery and asked herself if she could really watch as her sister raised the kits she was expecting. Those kits she gives birth to would call Squirrelflight their mother, Brambleclaw their father. It would hurt more, she knew, but she continued walking.

___

As Crowfeather watched Nightcloud talk to some other warriors, he asked himself what would happen once the kits were born. They were his kits, on the other hand, he knew it didn't matter much. He had seen it, while he grew up: Toms and she-cats, having kits with each other, just for the tom to move on. It wasn't unheard of, she-cats raising kits on their own, far from it actually. 

Nightcloud talked wildly about the future of her kits with anyone but him, and if anything she seemed to dislike the idea of his involvement. She didn't say it out loud, but everytime another Warrior mentioned it, she seemed to hold back a comment. 

"Crowfeather!", he turned his head as he heard his mother's voice: "Join the Border Patrol, check specifically the Thunderclan border!". Without a word he followed her order.

Before long Tornear and Webfoot walked behind him as they walked towards the Thunderclan border, marking their territory and looking out for a Thunderclan patrol. But instead Crowfeather smelled not a Warrior, but a Medicine Cat, and his body stopped moving. 

___

Leafpool wasn't sure why she was walking towards the border, but she was. It feels as if she was pushed towards it, faster and faster, yet she tried not to run. Before long she was walking along the border, smelling and searching for herbs, yet couldn't make out the smell of any. Instead she smelled something else, and her legs moved faster. 

"What are you doing so near the border?", she nearly jumped. It was then that she took notice of the Patrol, but really, she only took notice of Crowfeather. 

For a moment their eyes met, and she could feel it all. Her emotions, his emotions, pain, love, guilt and so much more. And she knew if it weren't for the rest of the Patrol she would have told him then and there, she wanted to. She wanted to scream it out to the world, for all clans to hear. About her kits, his kits, their kits. 

But instead she ran, she ran back towards her camp, and when she reached her den, ignoring the concerned calls of her clanmates, she collapsed in her bedding. She was breathing hard trying to stand up again, her legs protesting painfully. When she saw the black feathers that were stuck in her fur, feathers that she knew weren't there before, she gave up and fell asleep 

____

When Tornear mentioned to Onestar that they met Leafpool at the border and she ran away, the leader's eyes wandered to Crowfeather. And he knew other eyes laid on him, most importantly, he could feel Nightcloud's cold stare. But he ignored it. 

Instead he got himself fresh kill and went to her. "You should clean your fur", she said, slight disgust in her voice. "It's full with Leaves". Crowfeather nearly dropped the fresh kill.

___

The moon stood high when Leafpool awoke, she looked around her den before standing up. She still felt exhausted, the fact that she hadn't eaten in a while wasn't helping her. She went to get herself something to eat. 

When she came out of her den however she caught sight of silver fur and before even considering what it could mean, she ran out of camp. Following the smell of mountains and rivers.

____

Crowfeather awoke suddenly, having vague memories about his dream, about blood, stones, a giant being about to kill him. Yet when he saw the silver fur that was so familiar to him, he stood up. 

He didn't bother considering the consequences before he followed the ghostly cat into the night. He would have followed her into Starclan if that's what she wanted. He would follow both of them till the end, he realised as he ran, Leaves still stuck in his fur.

__

"Feathertail? Where are you?", Leafpool asked into the dark cave. She had followed the Starclan Cat into an underground tunnel, only for the she-cat to disappear. 

When no reply came, Leafpool started to investigate the tunnels, there must have been an endless number of passages crossing each other. A faint smell of other Cats existed here, yet it was so faint that it might just have been her mind, or she considered, her being a medicine cat. For whoever once wandered through these tunnels was no clan cat, but far older than that. 

She continued walking until she heard another voice and froze: "Feathertail?", and just like that Crowfeather stood before her. 

And it all made sense. 

___

Crowfeather froze when he saw Leafpool, trying not to notice the feathers stuck in her fur. As if their meeting here wasn't meant to happen. 

"What are you doing here?", he tried to sound angry, but he couldn't help but to say it softly, as if he was scared anything louder than a whisper would scare her away forever. 

"Following Feathertail…. like you.", he sat down at that. "Why did she bring us here?", he asked more himself than her, yet she answered. 

"I'm expecting our kits.", Crowfeather didn't know which feeling in him was stronger in that moment: Happiness or Despair. And so he simply walked towards her, burying his face in her fur, feeling like belongs for the first time in a while.

___

She didn't know how long they stayed like that, probably enough for their clanmates to notice, she realized, for the worry she felt wasn't her own. 

"Nightcloud is expecting, they are mine", Crowfeather finally said. She could feel the guilt in his voice. "I know, I knew the last time I saw her at the last gathering", there was silence between them again. 

Leafpool looked to the side, where feathers and leaves laid side my side. "Will she miss you?", Leafpool decided to ask. Crowfeather shook his head: "There is more to being mates then having kits together, love is important. She will be a good mother, but…. she doesn't need me or want me for that matter". 

A small breeze came from one of the tunnels, and they both caught the smell that came from it. 

They looked at each other, and Crowfeather shook his head: "This isn't what you want Leafpool, the clan.."  
"My clan", Leafpool stopped him: "Is important to me, yes, but I can't stand the thought of giving up my kits….". 

Suddenly she felt shock going through her body and turned her head, Squirrelflight came around the corner. Leafpool and her just stared at each other for a while till Squirrelflight closed her eyes and turned around. Her unspoken words are clear to no one but her littermate. "Don't worry", answered Leafpool, more for Crowfeather's understanding than Squirrelflight's "One day, you will meet them".

Finally Crowfeather and her started their journey further into the tunnels, guided by nothing but the footsteps of a silver cat

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to criticise this!   
> I haven't wrote stuff in a while and some criticism probably will help. 
> 
> Also I am not condemned Crow leaving a pregnant Night but in my eyes they aren't good for each other. 
> 
> And in the end they all got what they want so, yeah


End file.
